Philipp Girardet

Practice Areas

Philipp Girardet is a partner in the Global Antitrust Group and has deep experience in cross-border M&A transactions, including complex carve-outs and joint ventures, as well as complex cartel defence matters. He also has an active EU and UK competition compliance and antitrust litigation practice across a wide spectrum of industry sectors, including industrials, consumer goods, digital platforms/ e commerce, financial services, telecoms, media, pharma and transport.

Prior to joining Clifford Chance, Philipp was the Chair of the European Antitrust & Competition practice of a major US law firm. Philipp was also previously the Deputy Director of the Cartel Investigations division at the UK Competition Authority (then the Office of Fair Trading) and the Co-Chair of the Leniency Working Group of the European Competition Network (ECN) from 2005 to 2007 which developed more aligned leniency procedures across the EU.

Philipp was recognised in ‘The Lawyer Hot 100’ list (2021) as “a market leader among a growing group of competition lawyers, highly regarded for his particular expertise in mergers and cartels.”

Philipp is highly ranked in the leading legal directories, with Chambers (2025) reporting that clients find he "has deep expertise" and "is an excellent, well-spoken and pragmatic competition lawyer." Chambers (2024) reported that Philipp “receives considerable praise for his work both on EC or CMA behavioural investigations and on large-scale mergers” and that clients noted that: "He has a sharp and strategic mind, and thinks about the big picture without losing sight of the detail underpinning it", that he is a "hard worker" and is "very comfortable working on complex cases with multiple moving parts and stakeholders". Legal 500 (2024) noted that clients commented that he is "a pragmatic and innovative thinker".